Lander's Travels eBook

been placed a fetish figure, to preserve the chief
from any danger or mischief, which their presence might
otherwise have entailed upon him. A portion of
the spirit was poured into one of the glasses, and
from it emptied into each of the others, and then
drunk by the attendant that had fetched it from the
house. This is an old custom, introduced no doubt
to prevent masters from being poisoned by the treachery
of their slaves. As soon as the decanters had
been emptied of their contents, other ardent spirits
were introduced, but as Richard Lander imagined that
fetish water had been mingled with it, they simply
took a tea-spoonful into their mouths, and privately
ejected it on the ground. The old chief promised
to return their visit on the morrow, and lifting up
his hands and eyes to heaven, like a child in the
attitude of prayer, he invoked the Almighty to preserve
and bless them; they then saluted him in the usual
manner, and returned well pleased to their own habitation.

CHAPTER XXX.

They were now most anxious to proceed on their journey,
out the chief, Adooley, evaded their solicitations
to depart, under the most frivolous and absurd pretences.
He asserted that his principal reason for detaining
them against their inclinations, was the apprehension
he entertained for their safety, the road not being
considered in a good state. Under this impression,
he despatched a messenger to Jenna, to ascertain if
the affairs of that country warranted him sending
them thither. The old king of Jenna, who, it will
be recollected, behaved so kindly to Captain Clapperton,
was dead; his successor had been appointed, but he
had not at that time arrived from Katunga. That
being the case, there would not be any one at Jenna
to receive them. Meantime, the rainy season was
fast approaching, as was sufficiently announced by
repeated showers and occasional tornadoes. They
were also the more anxious to leave this abominable
place, as they were informed that a sacrifice of no
less than three hundred human beings, of both sexes
and all ages, was shortly to take place, such as has
been described in the second journey of Clapperton.
They often heard the cries of many of these poor wretches,
and the heart sickened with horror at the bare contemplation
of such a scene as awaited them, should they remain
much longer at Badagry.

Early on the morning of the 25th March, the house
of the travellers was filled with visitors, and from
that time to the evening they resigned themselves
to a species of punishment, which cannot be characterized
by any other terms than an earthly purgatory.
After cracking fingers a hundred times, and grinning
as often, they were informed, that the chief’s
messenger had returned from Jenna, but for some reason,
which Lander could not define, the man was almost
immediately sent back again, and they were told that
they could not quit Badagry until he again made his
appearance. It is the custom in this place, that
when a man cannot pay his respects in person to another,
he sends a servant with a sword or cane, in the same
manner as a gentleman delivers his card in England.
They this day received a number of compliments in
this fashion, and it is almost superfluous to say
that a cane or a sword was at all times a more welcome
and agreeable visitor than its owner would have been.